The Cat With Earrings
by leafgreenflower
Summary: Alya is woken by an unexpected houseguest, who needs her help. (In which Alya and Nino have to save the day, while Ladybug and Chat Noir are... unavailable.) (Also, please be kind to stray animals.)
1. Miau

"Miau".

Alya opened her eyes.

A mismatched pair of eyes stared back at her, from just in front of her nose.

She blinked. Alya usually came awake pretty well, unlike her best friend. But... this was new. Last she knew, she did not have a cat.

She peered around the cat. This was definitely her bedroom, where she'd fallen asleep way too late last night after hanging out with Nino at the all-ages youth dance-off. Her wall clock said it was seven in the morning. She could hear Ella and Etta's raucous attempts at breakfast in the next room and her sister attempting to keep them in line. Nothing seemed any different. Except for the cat. She pulled an arm out of the blankets and scooped the cat against her, sitting up. Surprisingly the cat didn't struggle away. But neither did it relax. It looked at her again, and batted her on the cheek with a soft sheathed paw.

"Miau".

The cat was... well, odd. It was patched red and black, with one bright blue eye and one electric green eye. There was a black circle around its left forepaw... no, wait. That was an actual metal band. The cat flicked its ears at her, and that's when she noticed. The cat had earrings.

Ladybug-spotted earrings.

Either this was a very complicated prank, or...

Whichever. She said to the cat "I need coffee for this", and pulled herself out of bed. The cat leapt from her arms as she moved, and sauntered along with her. Sticking her head out of her room, she yelled "Hey, did we get a cat?"

Her sister called back "Not exactly. It was at the window and the twins let it in. Catch it and I'll put it out again."

"No hurry. I'll do it. I just need a coffee first."

The usual coffee pot was ready on the counter, and Alya poured herself a mug, then added extra sugar. The cat brushed against her feet.

"Sorry, mogwai. Cats can't have coffee." The cat seemed to purr at the name. Which added an extra suspicion to the ones her tired brain was piling up in a big neon-lit heap. "Come on, let's go talk this over", she said with a yawn.

"Talk over what?" Nora asked.

"Not you, the cat", Alya replied. "I need to look up if there was an akuma last night after I went to bed."

"There was", Nora replied. "I saw it on my feed this morning. Someone was releasing stray animals".

"Right", Alya nodded. "I'll be out to help you with the twins as soon as I'm dressed."

"Don't take long", Nora said. "I've got to go for my run shortly."

Back in her room, Alya carefully closed the door. "Right", she said. "I'm going to get dressed. If you are who I think you are..."

The cat leapt up onto her bed, turned around on the spot to press a space out in the blankets, then lay down with its back to her and closed its eyes.

Alya had never gotten dressed so rapidly, and she had two little sisters who liked to take your clothes and run away with them before you could put them on. "OK", she said. "Where do you want to start? Food, sleep, water? A... litterbox?"

She could swear that the blue eye rolled at her. The green eye however just winked slowly.

"Thanks for trusting me, I guess?" she said. "Let me load the news, I'd better find out what I missed. The scoop of the century is sitting on my bed!"

"Miau". It sounded a little wearied.

"OK, OK, I'll calm down. But you've got to admit this is AMAZING!"

"Miau".

"Right. Um. So... how about one blink for yes, two for no?"

The cat winked at her. Then it winked with the other eye.

"Ohhhh...kay. So. Are both of you in there?"

Again, a wink with each eye, not quite in time.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. And also that blinking won't work because I can't tell if it's one or two when you're both doing it at different times." The cat just yawned in response.

Alya pulled up a browser window. "So... stray animals started appearing on the street, but nobody knows exactly when because they weren't paying attention. Then a crowd of people who were hanging around outside Clara Nightingale's hotel got hit and turned into random animals, and it was caught on camera." The akumatised person looked surprisingly normal at first glance in the night light, until Alya realised that the "raincoat" they were wearing was actually part of their own body. "There's been no reported sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir, and shortly after the hotel incident the akuma went to ground."

"Miau."

Alya rubbed her temples. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but let me guess. You guys turned up, but the akuma saw you before you saw them."

The cat began to wash its paw furiously, not meeting her eyes with either eye.

"Admission of guilt right there", she grinned. "And here you are... with your Miraculouses. Hawkmoth must be furious."

There was a banging on her door. "Alya! You said you'd take us with you to Marinette's house!"

"You know she won't be awake before 10, you little tricksters! Just let me get dressed and I'll come play with you", Alya called back. She turned to the cat. "I'm sorry, but it's my sisters". She shrugged. "You know them already, I think. I'm going to have to look after them. Tell you what. Marinette's my friend, but she likes to sleep in. So if you come with me when we go out, we can do whatever it is you need before going to her house. She won't wake up until I get there anyway."

There was another banging on the door, and the cat's ears flattened. Alya smiled. "Stay in here. I'll close the door, sneak you some food in and you can sleep til we leave. Deal?"

The cat leapt up, rubbed its face against her and put a paw on her leg. In all seriousness she put a finger against the paw, and they "shook".


	2. Who's in charge of the legs?

"It has to be Ladybug", Alya said emphatically. "Chat Noir always follows her lead. It'd be, instinctive for him."

"Nah", Nino replied. "Chat Noir is already a cat. He'd have the reflexes down."

It had been half an hour since the cat left them at the park near Marinette's house, to do... something that a superhero cat would do, with the clear signal to "wait". Etta and Ella were playing by the fountain. Nino had joined Alya at her urgent request, despite having had less sleep than she'd had. With little else to move on, conversation had turned to the very important question of who was in charge of the cat's legs.

"You don't suppose it could be both?" Nino added, reflectively. "They make a pretty good team, after all."

"Maybe? But then, I dunno, you'd have two legs each and the cat would fall over all the time. This morning they couldn't time their winks at all."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Perhaps they take turns", a new voice said. A little old Chinese man had come up by them, unnoticed. He leaned on his walking stick and watched the twins play. At their surprised looks, he smiled and opened the satchel he carried. The cat jumped out, stretched, then jumped up onto Nino and Alya's laps, somehow managing to sprawl across both.

"I see you know this cat", he smiled. "It likes you."

"Um, I guess?" Alya said. "I run the Ladyblog, I'm pretty well known now".

"Not that a cat would know that, right?" Nino said awkwardly, elbowing her. Alya promptly shut up.

The old man didn't seem to mind or notice. "I think it has made excellent choices." He offered a hand to shake. Alya shook it, obviously wanting to ask a whole lot more questions and just as obviously not wanting to give anything away. Nino shook too – but paused as he saw the man's bracelet, then looked at his face more carefully, searching. The old man smiled back, and something seemed to pass between them. Seeing this, Alya's brows furrowed in thought.

"Alya, we can trust this guy", Nino said. "He's... Um... yeah. We can trust him."

"Perhaps the Ladyblogger could restrain some of her questions for now, though", the old man said.

"Miau", the cat said from her lap, pawing in the direction of Alya's phone.

As smoothly as if he'd been going to say so already, the old man added "Or post them to her blog. It would seem strange, after all, if the Ladyblog completely failed to cover an akuma attack, let alone the mysterious disappearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir".

Nino nodded. "Babe, he's right. It's been hours and you haven't said anything. People will notice."

The cat twined its tail around Nino's arm briefly, lazily.

"Why don't you do that now?" Nino said. "I'll talk with..."

"Master Fu".

"I'll talk with Master Fu for a minute over here so we won't interrupt you." He lifted the cat off him and dumped it all in Alya's lap, ignoring the indignant squawk it gave, then offered the old man his arm. They walked away to a nearby tree, just out of earshot. Alya pulled up her blog and began composing a post.

"So, kittybug. What should I say? I'm so clueless about what's going on and I have absolutely no theories."

"Miau!"

"Yes, you're right, I always have theories. Maybe... I could theorise that Hawkmoth turned into one of the elephants at the zoo."

"Miaaaaau".

"Keep it real, right." She looked down at the cat and rubbed behind its ears. It pushed back against her hand with a cat-grin that was sheer Chat Noir through and through. "There are already people on the forum saying they think you've been turned into an animal. If I agree with them, that makes it harder for you to avoid notice." Gazing thoughtfully around, she saw Master Fu slip his bracelet off and hand it to Nino. She smiled. So. This man was the source of the Miraculouses, or at least the one for Carapace. She knew she wasn't supposed to know, but... it was Nino. He couldn't not shine through. It was one of the things she really liked about him. Loved even, though she had no intention of admitting that. "What if I post that there was a reported sighting of you across town this morning rounding up stray animals? I could add a theory that you guys are helping in your civilian forms. There's quite a few people helping with that. Then they'll be looking at each other to find you, and not at the animals." She nodded decisively. "I'll go with that. We don't want someone noticing a cat wearing your Miraculouses. That could be bad all round."

"Indeed it would be, Rena Rouge". Master Fu had come up again – how was he so quiet? "I thought about taking the Miraculouses away for their own protection until this akuma was freed. But my kwami convinced me that it might be harmful. Instead, I think Ladybug and Chat Noir need some assistance." He handed her a familiar box. Behind him, Nino gaped at her.

"Aren't I supposed to keep that a secret?" she said, somewhat annoyed.

"Indeed. However, under the circumstances, it seemed both unfair and impractical for you to know Carapace's identity and for him not to know yours. Especially as between you, you must still care for the twins."

"Oh sugar, the twins!" she and Nino both exclaimed at once, looking over to where the twins were... no, had been. As they leapt up and ran, Nino said "You knew?"

"Reporter, duh." She smiled and grabbed his hand. "And I'd know you anywhere."

Master Fu watched them race across the park, Nino blushing. To the cat he said "Trixx and Wayzz will help you translate. Good luck." The cat bowed. He scratched its back and it raised its butt higher in response, then seemed to twitch and pull itself down in annoyance. He laughed as he walked carefully away.

The cat caught up to Alya and Nino just as they each scooped up a twin and put them on their shoulders. The girls whooped and began singing. "We're going to Marinette's house! We're going to Marinette's house!"

"Hey babe, I thought of something", Nino said. "You know how cats use their tongue to clean their-"

"Not in front of the twins, Nino!"


	3. Finders keepers

Wayzz was having trouble getting to Nino's ears. The small child kept sticking feet in the way, and arms, and once leaned its head forward just as he started up, causing him to duck back down in a hurry. It was essential that they didn't go visit Marinette, obviously. But he'd tried talking to Nino from his jeans pocket, and the boy hadn't heard. Between his earphones and the singing of the child on his shoulders, one little kwami's voice was just lost. He peeped out of Nino's jeans pocket and met the cat's eyes. Unsurprisingly, the cat was also obviously agitated. It was walking with them, but kept trying to turn, or dash underfoot. Almost as if, well, if it was being controlled by two people at once.

It would have been hilarious if it wasn't quite serious.

But that gave Wayzz an idea. He tugged on the lining of Nino's jeans pocket, and when the boy glanced down, pointed at the cat. Nino looked at the cat's odd walk, and laughed, then frowned. Then he tapped Alya.

"Hey babe, I think we should be following the cat somewhere else."

"But Marinette can help us with the twins, right?" A cheering chorus of "Marinette! Marinette!" followed this statement. Nino shrugged as best he could with a wiggly child on his shoulders. "It's only just going 10 am, and you know Marinette in the mornings. Just saying."

"You've got a point", Alya agreed grudgingly. "She was expecting us, but leaving the twins with her on her own this early would be a disaster. We can't ditch them."

"How about instead we go to..." Nino went blank for a moment, then inspiration struck. "The zoo."

"Really?"

"Yeah, um, not to be nostalgic or anything, but we could sit on a bench. You know, outside of a cage this time. Nobody would see a cat under our feet, or hear, y'know, two extra voices."

Alya turned the idea over in her mind. "What do you think, kittybug?"

"Miau".

"That's probably a yes. Ella, Etta? How about we go to the zoo and then over to Marinette's afterwards? She'll be awake then so we won't be waking her up".

The twin on Alya's shoulders thumped their feet against her chest. "No! You said we were going to Marinette's!"

"Yes, and we are. But wouldn't it be better to go at... lunchtime?"

There was a short silence as both twins looked at each other.

"Can it be lunchtime now?"

"No, you little rascals, it isn't lunchtime yet. But just think of what we could get to eat if we went there for lunch." Alya smiled and added offhandedly "Of course, we'd have to go look at the animals in the zoo first. Just for a bit".

There was another short silence, then a cheer of "Zoo! Animals!" erupted from their shoulders. With some relief, the cat led the way.

Just as Alya and Nino sat down on a bench opposite the tigers, the twins yelled "Papa!". Alya's dad leaned down and ruffled their hair. "What are you all doing here?" he said. Looking closer at them, he said "And who is that handsome cat hiding under there?" He crouched and held out a hand. "Here, kitty. You know you're not supposed to be in the zoo."

The cat sniffed his hand, then put a paw in it.

"Miau".

He solemnly shook the proffered paw, then blinked, and looked closer at the cat. Then he looked back at Alya and Nino. "I... see", was all he said. Then he smiled. "You've come to the right place. We have plenty of cat food, and places where a small big cat could hide or sleep for a bit, in the keeper's hut just back through that gate". He gestured at an inconspicuous wooden gate through some bushes.

"Miau". The cat rubbed its head against his hand. He looked at it again, sucking in his breath when he saw the earrings.

"You don't have a plan yet, do you?".

"Miaaaaau".

"Well, it's hard to think on an empty stomach. Come with me." He picked the cat up, and stood. "Ella, Etta, why don't you two come with me for five minutes? You can help me feed this cat. We'll let your sister and Nino talk". The twins swarmed to his legs, cheering. To Alya, he said "Five minutes and they're yours again, I do have to work today. But I can give my girl five minutes with the man of her dreams." Winking, he turned and walked away, still holding the cat.

Alya and Nino looked after him, stunned.

"What do we do now?" she said. "I thought Kittybug was going to help us."

"Well", Nino said, leaning back and stretching his arms out, "at least you get five minutes to talk with the man of your dreams."

She thumped him with her bag.


	4. Lead Astray

_A/N: About the previous chapter: I myself didn't know they were going to the zoo until Nino suggested it. When he did, I thought "Hey, that's a good idea, then I can write them some free time to talk without the twins". I've never been able to have more than one or two sentences of conversation in a row without being interrupted if there's a three-year-old about, and from a writing point of view a dialogue sounds really boring if it's spread out so long with so many irrelevant bits, so believability and interestingness were in conflict. But if Alya's dad distracted the twins for five minutes, then I could move the plot along smoothly. All great. Then he came and took the twins away, AND THE CAT TOO, and I'm like... well, you know how Alya reacted? That was me. I'm sitting there at my keyboard going "But wait, we needed that character... now what?" At any rate, I've left them in their uncharted territory to work it out for now, they can tell me what they came up with when I get back. This chapter, there's someone else we need to hear from._

* * *

A few hours earlier:

Lead Astray leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Darnit. He'd been so close. He felt Hawkmoth's communication within his head. "Any sign of them?"

"No, and I've been looking. I need to sleep. So do they, and they'll have gone to ground while they sleep so I won't be able to find them for a couple of hours", he admitted.

"I could take your powers away".

"And then they'd be stuck as a cat, and you wouldn't have their Miraculouses. You need me to turn them back. And find them".

On the other end of whatever psychic line this was, he felt exasperation, but agreement. If Lead Astray was being honest with himself, he felt exasperation too. His powers should have turned Ladybug into a small cat, much easier to catch. He wouldn't even have had to catch her himself - the animal catchers in this city got far too many cats. Like his own Purrdence. Who hadn't been an alley cat, she'd just gotten out unnoticed. But now she was in the pound, and he couldn't afford to pay the fee to get her back. He let the rage fill him again, the rage that brought him the power.

Ladybug should have been a cat like his Purrdence, with Chat Noir left alone and weakened by emotion and loss. But Chat Noir had dived across her as the bolt hit, falling in a tangle of limbs, and when the light faded there was just one cat. And no superheroes. He'd tried to hit them with the restoration straight away, but the cat had freaked and bolted.

"You can replay it in your mind as often as you like, but you still missed", Hawkmoth said.

"I know. But I hit lots more people, so now there are lots of people looking for all the animals I made. In the process they're finding all the real strays that should have been given homes. One of them will find our cat, and some of the others will find new fur friends. Win win. I can just sit back for a little and the plan will continue on".

"Fine, sleep then. But your powers won't last through more than tomorrow".

"That's fine", Lead Astray said. "I'll rejoin the searchers and registry folk first thing, see if our cat has been found already. They won't know who it is so it'll just be waiting in a cage. Then I can turn it back, freeing their Miraculouses from the cat form, and grab them while they're confused".

"Keep me posted", Hawkmoth ordered.

Lead Astray said nothing, but his thoughts indicated agreement. He sensed that Hawkmoth was also considering sleep. This hour of the morning there wasn't much to see. Daylight would work in their favour. They could leave the effort now to the people who were desperately seeking loved ones, and let them do the work.

He leaned back, and was asleep in minutes.


End file.
